Chase suspects named

A wild, 30-mile ride across the highways and biways of San Joaquin County has resulted in 23 criminal charges against three individuals.

The Record

A wild, 30-mile ride across the highways and biways of San Joaquin County has resulted in 23 criminal charges against three individuals.

The three have been identified:

» Jaime Lee Castellon, 34, a male, Lathrop: 14 charges ranging from evading a police officer in a reckless manner to possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle to assault with a deadly weapon against a peace officer.

» Chalissa A. Robinson, 33, a female, French Camp: Three charges, including evading a police officer and accessory to felony/aid in avoiding arrest.

All three played a part in a high-speed chase that included driving against traffic on Interstate 5 and highways 99 and 4 as well as speeds up to 100 miles per hour.

"At one point, we perceived that this was a carjacking," said Officer James Smith, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, "and that upped our response."

Involved in the high-risk incident were an aerial unit, a highway patrol sergeant and three CHP ground units.

As it turned out, there was no carjacking - only an accomplice, Robinson, who helped Castellon and Hanson toward the end of the chase.

It started at 11:52 a.m. when an officer tried unsuccessfully to stop Castellon, who was driving a stolen red Nissan pickup. Hanson was his passenger. The pair stole a Volvo in the middle of the high-speed chase.

It ended at 12:39 p.m. after a pursuing CHP car employed a tactic known as PIT that is designed to force a fleeing vehicle to abruptly turn sideways, causing the driver to lose control.

PIT is an acronym with several definitions, most of them involving immobilization technique.

It took two such attempts. By the time the pursuing officers employed this tactic, Castellon and Hanson were passengers in a waiting vehicle with Robinson as the driver.

After the ramming attempt, Castellon shoved Robinson out of the vehicle and got behind the wheel. A second PIT maneuver by the highway patrol disabled the Mercury.

Castellon, suspected in two robberies, one of them in Manteca, was arrested trying to run away from the scene.